Treasury yields move lower as end of the government shutdown nears

U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Wednesday as investors welcomed progress on bringing an end to the government shutdown.

The 10-year Treasury yield was down more than 4 basis points to 4.065%. The 2-year note yield also fell more than 2 basis points to 3.562%, while the 30-year bond yield declined more than 4 basis points to 4.661%.

One basis point is equal to 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions.

On Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. House of Representatives will vote at around 7 p.m. ET on a bill to fund the federal government through January and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history, which lasted over 40 days.

The Senate passed the bill on Monday 60-40, with support from nearly all Republicans and some Democratic senators, will be sent to the House of Representatives. If it passes the House, President Donald Trump still needs to sign it into law.

The shutdown has delayed the release of key economic data from the Consumer Price Index to the Producer Price Index and the nonfarm payroll reports. Investors are looking ahead to see when those delayed reports will be released.

The Trump administration has cast doubt that more economic data would see the light of day, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Wednesday that October reports might never be released due to the ongoing shutdown. She also said that the stoppage may have damaged the government’s ability to collect data.

“The shutdown of the federal government has delayed nearly all federal economic data releases for September and October,” Goldman Sachs economists Elsie Peng and Ronnie Walker said in a client note.

“While the shutdown appears to be nearing its end, it will take time for the statistical agencies to work through the backlog of releases,” they added.

Also on Wednesday, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said that he’s going to be leaving his position, which he has been in since 2017, once his term is up at the end of February.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished during my tenure to turn the lofty goal of an economy that works for everyone into more of a reality, and I look forward to discovering new ways to advance that bold vision in my next chapter,” he said in a statement.